In a few weeks, Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW) will once again unite millions of innovators, job creators, business owners, world leaders, celebrity entrepreneurs and companies under the celebration of entrepreneurship. With more than 40,000 events spread out over November 13–17 in more than 160 countries, GEW offers individuals—entrepreneurs, small business owners, foodpreneurs, makers and creators—a chance to unleash their ideas and discover their potential, risk-free.
So why is Global Entrepreneurship Week important?
Because entrepreneurship creates jobs—and many of the new jobs in entrepreneurial economies come from firms less than five years old. Leaders around the world see GEW as a way to stimulate and support entrepreneurship and the ecosystem it needs to thrive.
But Global Entrepreneurship Week is more than an awareness campaign.
Through local, national and global activities, GEW gives aspiring, emerging and existing entrepreneurs a chance to be creative and build connections, to start companies and spur economic growth. Supporting our entrepreneurs on a local, national and global level spurs business creation and scaling leading to crucial job growth.
Cities everywhere are celebrating GEW. Our affiliate partner KCSourceLink is organizing GEWKC crowdsourcing more than 160 events, with most of them free to attend. These workshops and classes will help aspiring and established entrepreneurs:
- discover innovation
- learn what it takes to start a business and secure a loan
- predict future cash needs
- find inspiration from other entrepreneurs
- learn what government can do for their businesses
- build stronger customer relationships
- and much, much more
GEW was originally launched in 2008 by former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Carl Schramm, former president and CEO of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. Since then, it has spanned the globe, with nearly 25,000 partner organizations planning more than 37,000 activities that directly engage more than 10 million people.
Global Entrepreneurship Week fosters entrepreneurial growth and adds to the revival of the entrepreneur. This isn’t just a celebration, it’s another way of building and supporting a sustainable and strong entrepreneurial infrastructure in your community. The beauty of GEW is that you can use the global exposure of GEW and impact your local entrepreneurial ecosystem at the same time.
Empowering entrepreneurs in your city
Need help connecting entrepreneurs to during GEW (or Startup Week or Techweek or National Small Business Week)? Contact us—we’re here to help you identify resources, connect and empower entrepreneurs and measure your efforts.
Sarah Mote is the marketing director at SourceLink. Sarah brings her experience as an entrepreneur, storyteller and content strategist to help shape the story of SourceLink and that of our affiliate communities.
